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AN INAUGURAL ODE 



AN INAUGURAL ODE 

By 

Alexander Blair Thaw 



THE MONADNOCK PRESS 
NELSON, N. H. 

MCMV 



I COPY e. i 

f^, ..^-^j 



COPYRIGHT, 1905 
BY ALEXANDER BLAIR THAW 






To 

The American People 



AN INAUGURAL ODE 



TT "TNDER this banner of ours, 
I unfurled 

^^-^ To the winds of the world, 
We, by God's grace, Citizens, Sovereigns, 
lords of this land. 
Seeking a man among men. 
Fixing on you for our choice 
Once again. 
Give you, this day, high place. 
And the nation's voice, — 

With a solemn roar 
Like the murmur of wind in the trees. 
With the might of the surge of the seas 

As they break on the shore, — 
Gives unto you, to command 
Over our armies of peace. 
And over our servants, who stand 
At watch in the house. 



Solemn and mutual vows 

We make this day; 
To defend our fair temple of state, 
To protect the pure spirit of laws. 

To watch and to pray 
Against treason, within and without: 

Within, — for the fate 
Of all our unborn generations 

Hangs on these vows we make: 
Without, — for our cause. 

And this oath which you take. 
Are the promise of peace to the nations. 

For our war. 
Is the fight against war. 

And our strife 
Is the struggle of right against wrong, 
The battle of youth with doubt. 

Of life with death. 
And our song 

Is the battle shout 



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Of a mighty army of peace ; 

The living breath 
Of new-born harmonies. 

That shall be sung 
In every human tongue. 

This is the oath you take, 
As you take up the fight against wrong: 
To defend. 
Even unto the end, 
This, our cause ; this, the creed 

We confess ; 
That Justice and Mercy endure. 

With righteousness: 
And naught else is sure, — 

And naught less! 
And the promised land shall belong 

Not to the strong 
But the meek, and to them who are pure 
In heart and in deed. 



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Though men say 
These are dreams, foolish dreams; 

Though the way 
Through the desert still seems 
Blind, perilous, wearily, endlessly long; 

Nay! 
Though the very dust, that we raise 
With our feet on the long trodden ways. 
Shuts out all the light of our days; 
Are we lost then, indeed! 

Shall no leader be found, in our need! 
Is this then our life, evermore to rehearse 

Those tales that are told 

Of the people of old. 

Who were faithless, perverse. 
And worshipped strange gods, which they 
wrought 

With the work of their hands! 



12 



Oh ye. 

Ye who have climbed the heights and sought 

The Lord's commands. 
The table of that law which sets us free. 
And, coming from the mountain, as of old 
Have found our god a beast, and made of gold. 

Lead us onward still! 

Give us strength that we, 
Out of our very weakness and our fears. 

Make strong our will ! 
That these weak hands of ours may yet fulfil 

The promise of the years; 
And seize that kingdom, which by the Lord's 
decree 

Is ours to win ; that country you behold 
From lonely mountain heights, remote and 
cold! 

13 



Shall we, 
Whose forefathers dared to smite 
From off their limbs and lives 
The galling gyves, 
Forged in the night 
Of Egypt's darkness, and fled 
That ancient tyranny 
Of warring kings ; 
Shall we 
Not arise. 

And cast from our eyes 
The subtle spell that blinds our sight. 
And, from our hearts, those ancient lies. 
False visions of some far off" paradise; 
Those fetters of the soul that stay our might ; 
Those flesh-pots of the mind ; that wandering 

light 
Which leads where no true hills of promise 
rise ! 
So shall we see. 
When the true vision is at last revealed 
This is our portion in that promised land ! 



A sacred soil, to till ; a place to stand 
Against the Philistines ; a battle field. 
Where we must fight and fiall; yea, hand in 

hand. 
Fight on, to fall again, — but never yield. 



Since we have shunned the shadows that are 
cast 

Upon the air, mirages of the sky ; 
Since now at last 

The long, long dreary desert space is past ; 
Shall we in very madness, drunk with pride. 

Set up base gods on high 
Within the market place ! 
Or, seeking grace 

To guide. 
And kneeling down, each man upon his hearth. 
Search for the living laws, where still they lie. 

Scattered like seeds in the earth, 

15 



Till the children of men. 
Toiling beneath the sun. 

Shall raise them up again. 
One by one. 

As by a second birth. 
And make them whole at last ! 

Now no more, as of old. 
Does the dust of our striving by day 

Blind the sight of our eyes. 
Nor shut out the light of the sun 

Ere the day's work is done. 
For the wind of the Lord blows behind us, 
and loud 
Is the sound of it; 
And as it was writ. 
And the tale thereof told. 
See, the columns of dust that arise 
Are become as a pillar of cloud 

In the skies. 
To point out the way. 

i6 



And behold, 
When we gaze straight before us 

Through these whirlwinds of dust, 
And no longer look back on our track. 

In a breath 
The dark years of the desert are past, 
And the shadows of death. 

And the land 
Of our hope is at hand; 
Which the Lord shall restore us. 
He in whom is our trust. 

And our cup shall run o'er 

In the day of our need, 
And He shall restore 

And make whole. 
In us and our seed. 

The great living soul 

Of the teeming 

World, ever dreaming 
Of things that are to be. 

17 



These are the things we must do, 
To be constant and true 

To our vow. 
So, here and now. 
We bid you stand. 
Stand and receive the sacred oath,— to protect 
This fair temple of ours, which was planned 
Through the ages of ages. 
By the mind of the One 
Great Architect ; 
This dream of the prophets and sages. 
By whom the fair work was begun; 
This house, which was made 
By men's toil. 
And the work of their hands. 

Here under the sun; 
This temple, which stands 
As a refuge for men of all nations: 
Whose strong foundations 
Forever firm are laid 

i8 



In the free soil 

Of the fertile earth. 
And in every heart, on every hearth. 

Where'er still burn the sacred fires 
Of liberty and brothers' love. 
And this living wall 

Shall never move. 
These lofty tovs^ers 

Shall never fall, 
But by our guilt. 

And to our scathe. 
For behold, they are built 
Of the blood of our sons and our brothers. 

And the faith 

Of our mothers; 
And their glorious strength ever rests 

In the graves of our sires. 
And in our daughters' breasts. 

19 



So this temple of ours, 
Which was made 

For a refuge for men. 
Has become as a house of the Lord. 

So twice was it saved by the sword 
Of our fathers, who fell 

In faith's fierce endeavor. 
That we, coming after, might dwell 

Therein, unafraid. 
With goodness and mercy forever. 



20 



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HECKMAN IXl 

BINDERY INC. |e| 

^ DEC 88 

ViJiJw N. MANCHESTER, 
^^^^ INDIANA 46962 






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